Discovering Faith
by Expandarian
Summary: Donovan and Valentine have hated each other since birth. Almost overnight an apocalypse broke out and Johnathan scrambled to go find his brother. He doubted he'd find him alive after Chris had left him handcuffed to the rails in the school stairwell. Now that the dead have inhabited the earth, what is there left to live for?
1. Author's Updates

**Author's Note**

This story was written by Zak and I. I am writing the part of Valentine and he is writing the part of Donovan. It's a zombie story we decided to write in lieu of the Walking Dead season 3 coming out this month. It'll probably take a while to get it updated since I'm taking 9 classes this semester and he's taking 8. They're just basic classes this semester but we're going to be taking some more advanced classes next semester. We're both taking English 111 and Communications 111, so our schedules are already filled with plenty of writing as it is.

For each section break there will be a POV switch, starting with Donovan.

There will be no disclaimer in this round because all characters, plot, and small story details belong to us. We take inspiration from Walking Dead no doubt (in some cases you might see a similarity) but the rest of the content is purely original. I will provide a disclaimer for the artwork, however. We have asked permission from Ethereal-Mind on DeviantArt to use ZOMBIES as the cover art for this story. We had to use a cropped version of the illustration for the story art but you should go see the whole thing. He is an outstanding artist and we highly suggest you go check out his account. Link listed below.

The title for this story is only temporary and we will be re-titling it based on the best suggestion or popular vote, so feel free to PM us a suggested title or leave one in the reviews box.

Enjoy :o)

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**Outside Links**

Ethereal-Mind:

Wattpad Listing: 7876467-discovering-faith


	2. Discovering the Dead

Ever since the apocalypse, it's been every man for himself. You never stay in one spot too long, or else you'll end up just like every other moron who thought he was smarter than them.

Dead.

The thing is, natural instinct will always, always trump the brainiac who thinks there's a way out, that there is a cure and everyone will get better and we'll all survive. Sooner or later, no matter how smart you are, they'll get you. One way or another, they'll get all of us.

You gotta be quiet, and quick. If you're not... you're dead. Just like everyone else. They're easy to handle one at a time, but if you attract a group, you better run. Fast. Or hide and pray to God they don't find you. Because if they do... you'll feel the most unbearable pain you've ever felt in your life. They'll rip your limbs off and eat you alive, and it doesn't matter how much you cry and scream for help. They're not the same people you knew before.

They're dead. And the only thing keeping them moving is instinct.

The dead are nasty creatures. Just a splatter of blood, a scratch on the hand, anything to get their DNA into your system... and you'll turn into one of them before sunrise on the third day.

When you're trying to survive in a world infected by the living dead, there's only one rule:

**Keep Moving**


	3. First Blood

"Damn it! Why the hell won't these fucking things break already!" I glanced down at my bleeding wrists and wondered to myself how I was ever going to get out of this predicament. I winced as the pain of my flesh wounds began to sting. I slumped down against the wall of the stairwell and gave one more tug at the chains before giving up.

I looked at the wall noting the horrid decoration of the place. Did all high schools have to have such shitty color corrdination? I could feel my lips tug upward at the thought of my mothers sure outrage over it. I could almost hear her complaining about color schemes and clashing decorations.

I remember the night before when she told me I had to eat the sad excuse for asparagus she had offered me. I put up such a fight. There was no way I was gunna put that green rubber in my mouth. Valentine laughed at me when I told everyone I would eat all the mashed potatoes in the world, but that asparagus wasn't coming near me.

I never thought I would die chained to a pole. You know, now that I think of it, it's kinda hot. What a way to go...

There was a scratch at the door. My heart began to pound. Is someone here to help me?

"Hey can you hear me!? I'm in here! Help!"

The scratching got louder; the pounding began. I didn't get it. What the hell were these people doing? "Hey!" I tried again. "Don't you know how to open a door?" The door to the next floor rattled a bit too. I began to wonder just what it was that was out there. "Dumbass, push the button down and pull." This was getting very annoying very fast.

I stood up and yanked rapidly on the metal chains, I could hear it bend and break down. I watched as the handcuff cut its way into my bleeding skin. As the blood dripped onto the floor the rattling behind the door grew louder and louder.

"Ha!" I heard a voice scream from below me. There was crashing and the sound of a heavy blunt object hitting the floor. "Come at me bitch!" I listened to the woman screech. I put my foot up against the wall and pushed with all my might. Sudenly I fell backwards hitting my head against the opposite wall. "Ouch. Shit that hurt!" Looking down I saw that the chain hadn't broken, but the bar decided to take a vacation.

The door to the first floor slammed shut. I gripped the bar in my right hand and inched my way down the stairs, with my body against the wall I peeked around the corner to see a girl with a baseball bat standing on top of a man's head. One of the men she was with took a baton and bashed another mans head in. I gripped my weapon even tighter as I watched Brandon (a football player for our school) beat our history teacher to death. What the hell is wrong with these people?

Behind Mr. Jhonsten was a small girl, about 5'1. Her long blonde hair waved a bit as she shuffled into the room. My eyes widened as my brain registered who the girl was. It was Amanda, my best friend. When Brandon raised his arm to hit her I shrieked a deadly war cry getting the attention of everyone in the room. I flung myself onto Brandon and began slamming my elbow into his face and throwing the occasional knee-in-the-crotch move. I felt the woman and her other companion try to pull me off of him but I was too focused, too angry to release him.

Amanda made her way to our little crowd of people and leaned down near my face. The woman behind me kicked Amanda, making me release Brandon. Brandon's head hit the ground with a thud. My hand reached out to Amanda, but it was too late. The woman's companion staked her in the heart.

"What the..." I whispered to myself. Even with the large crowbar stuck through her chest she grabbed ahold of the boy and pulled herself up.

"Holy shit...holy shit." I was panicking. She opened her jaws and took a giant bite out of his neck. I covered my mouth and backed up; my legs stopped working. The woman who had kicked Amanda earlier had sprung to her feat and stabbed Amanda in the head with a pocket knife. She squirmed a bit, then she fell over dead. Without mercy or hesitation she turned and stabbed her companion in the face. Right through the eye socket. "I told you to aim for the head!", she screamed at her limp companion, "dumbass would have got us killed anyway.", she looked up at me," So, Donovan... You okay?"

I couldn't answer her. My eyes were still fixed on Amanda. "What the hell was going on? He stabbed her right through the heart! So how was she still able to move? She bit him!"

"Donovan," she spoke softly. "Amanda, wasn't really herself, she was-"

"No freaking Duh! She just KILLED him! She just took a giant fucking bite out of his neck and all you tell me is she wasn't herself!? What the fuck was that!?"

Thats when Brandon sat up and spat out what I believe was a tooth. "Donovan you know what they are. You've seen them in movies, and read about them in books. The dead are walking now and if you don't get a fucking grip I'll leave your ass behind."

My eyes shot up to look at Brandon. I felt the fear take hold of my soul, "Why can't we just stay here and take up arms use this place as a fort?"

"Donovan... the only way to survive is to keep moving."

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Pulling myself up from the ledge I lifted my leg over the large cement block. It was hard to get my knee over so I could get a grip, but I couldn't give up now. I could hear them down there. A large crowd was gathering, clawing at the doors and trying to climb up the rough cinder blocks along the outside of the building.

I knew I had to make it. I had to find Donovan and Mom, and we had to get out of here.

My conscious pushed me, releasing the last bit of willpower I had, giving me the strength to pull myself over the edge. I collapsed on the rooftop, looking up at the large, bright sun. It rose in the sky today just like any other day, as if this world wasn't coming to an end. Birds flew by overhead, seemingly untouched by the chaos below. It gave me hope.

I lifted myself up and looked over the edge of the building, spotting the window I just came out of. I guess it was a good thing I decided to move when I did because their rotting heads just began poking out of the window. One of them looked up; spotting me, he decided to climb out onto the window sill and try to climb up the side of the building. He slipped his fingers into the cracks between each cinder block and started to climb. Luckily his coordination was off, and he fell. About a dozen or so tried the same thing, only to splatter on the ground in failure and be eaten by their own kind. They obviously had no communication or regard for each other.

I saw Brian climb out onto a ledge two windows to the left. We'd been in football together since freshman year, and even before that we went to karate together and played in the yard. We'd been neighbors for as long as I could remember.

He lifted the necklace from his neck and kissed it. I tried as hard as I could to remember what it was, but I couldn't. He kissed it before every game for luck. Said it was from his Mom. I yelled out for him, "Brian!", but he just stood there.

His hands tensed into fists at his side as he looked up at me. It was the most regretful and pathetic look I'd ever seen. He was crying, and I could tell he was nervous by the sweat on his face. It was hot out, enough to make the dead stink horribly, but not enough to make a man drip sweat inside an air conditioned building.

I'd never thought of the possibility until now. I knew what he was going to do... "Brain! Stop. Brian, Hang on and I'll lift you up." He shook his head, staring back down at the masses of dead bodies, both moving and lying still. He took a deep breath, and stepped closer to the edge. The window behind him was still open, he could still turn back, "Brian! Go back inside! Hide under a desk and I'll come get you!"

He looked up at me and started to talk. I couldn't hear much of what he was saying over the roar of the crowd, and suspected he couldn't hear me well either. I ran over to him so that I was just above the window sill he was on. He was about 10 feet down. I knew he could do it. "Brian, you have to climb up here a little bit so I can reach you."

I'm not sure what I said to make him change his mind, but he turned around and stuck his fingers in the cracks between the cinder blocks. He started climbing and my heart began to slow to a normal pace. As soon as I get him up here I'll have to go find Donovan. Everyone heard the rumors about what Chris had done to him, chaining him up in the stairwell like that. I know it's unlikely that he's alive, but I've gotta make sure. I have to see for myself.

Just as Brian put his first foot up on the blocks he slipped. His foot fell back down to the window sill, and he lifted it almost immediately to try again I looked up, onto the rooftops of the other buildings. They were all empty and it was hard to tell if the dead had claimed the structures yet.

I looked back down at Brian as a pale hand reached out of the window and grabbed a hold of his foot, pulling him back down from the progress he'd made. His back snapped against the window sill and his torso hung over the ledge. A dirty blonde head poked out of the window and took a giant gash out of his leg. I looked down at his face in agony as he screamed. If they let go he'd go right over the edge head first. I knew he'd die on impact but it just seemed so violent.

I reached into my pocket, pulling out the knife he gave to me for my 18th birthday. I flipped it out and started to aim, I'm not a great aim but it's only 10 feet. I can do this. I pulled the knife up to my face, kissing it before I extended my arm and flicked my wrist out. I kept thinking about what he said, "It's all in the wrist Johnathan...". I closed my eyes, only opening them after I heard the knife impact on something. I'm only hoping that it's Brian's head, or the zombie's. Either way it would put him out of his misery.

I watched Brian's body go limp just enough to dislodge his leg from the dead's grip. I watched his body fall. He hit the ground almost instantly, faster than I thought. All of the dead began to crowd around his body, tearing it to pieces. I turned around and collapsed against the inside of the ledge.

I just lost my best friend. He was so close, and I lost him. It was so fast.

I looked up to the sun, letting a tear fall. The roaring below got louder and louder as their meal came to a finish. I wiped the tear from my eye, making my way over to the door that led to the stairwell. I could hear some voices inside, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. It was hard to tell if they were alive or not, until I heard a loud shout, "She just KILLED him!"

That was Donovan's voice. He was alive, but the stairwell was bolted shut with chains and padlocks that I couldn't break apart. I'd have to go back through the windows below to get bolt cutters from the shop room. The last time I saw that wing of the building it was being overrun... this isn't going to be pleasant.

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**Note:** I hope you liked it. Leave a review and let us know if we should continue. We'll leave the content up no matter what but we need to know if it's at least worth our time to continue or if it sucks. Neither of the written parts have been edited, so please excuse the raw content here. The only thing that's been edited is the first section.

Please let us know if it sucks...


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